no delinking of nursery from kg - hc

New Delhi: The High Court on Friday has declinedthe proposal for delinking of nursery (Pre-school) from KG (pre-primary) saying that it would be troublesome for parents as they will have to undergo admission process twice.

The court replied to a petition seeking a direction to all schools to follow a uniform age criteria of 4+ fornursery. The petition stated that according to the statutory stipulation under Section 16 of the Delhi School Education Act 1973, no child below five years of age will be admitted to Class I of a recognized school.

Petitioner representing the NGO Social Jurist said that as per the Ganguly Committee recommendations, KG should be considered as entry level. He pointed out that currently most schools treat nursery as the official start to schooling, leaving little scope for fresh admission to KG.

He also expressed that nursery should not be considered as a feeder class for KG i.e. no automatic promotion in KG to nursery students should be given.

Acting chief Justice AK Sikri and Justice RS Endlaw asked the petitioner if he wanted parents to go through two levels of enxiety, the agony of admission process twice.

Last year, the Delhi Government had also filed an affidavit in the court demanding that schools should not be permitted to consider nursery as part of formal education.

The petitioner blamed the government for not implementing the court's 2007 order, according to which, 4 years should be the minimum age for admission to pre-primary classes. He highlighted that several 4-year-olds could not get fresh admission in KG as automatic promotion was given to nursery students.